Learn about assistive technology for people with reading disabilities, dyslexia, low vision, blindness and other disabilities that make reading, writing, and other tasks difficult. Written by someone who uses assistive technology to read and write.

Pages

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Quizlet is a website where users can create, share, and study flashcards. Users can make a study set on the internet and then study them on a computer or using the free Quizlet iOS app. The app is compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. Teachers can also make a study sets for their classes. Quizlet also offers pre-made flashcard sets for popular vocabulary books, SAT vocabulary, and more. Flashcards can also include images to aid in studying. Once the study set is open you can view the terms in list mode or in flashcard mode. Watch the video above to learn more. Both modes include speak buttons which speak the terms in a high quality text-to-speech voice. Quizlet is compatible with Apple's VoiceOver. Click here to download the free app.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

An iOS app called TapTapSee can recognize almost anything that you can take a picture of. TapTapSee is designed for the blind or visually impaired so it requires VoiceOver to be enabled. Click here to download the app for free. With the app open simply point the devices camera at an object and double tap to take a picture. Then TapTapSee recognizes the image with amazing speed and accuracy. In my tests the app was able to distinguish a salt shaker from and nearly identical pepper grinder. The app took an average of 10-15 seconds for each image. Keep in mind that you will need an internet connection for the app to work. With a few exceptions TapTapSee recognized everything that I took a picture of. The app is truly amazing because of its accuracy and detail it is able to provide in a short time. Visually impaired users could use the app to distinguish between two similar feeling objects. The app can also recognize all denominations of US currency but unlike the LookTel Money Reader TapTapSee cannot recognize foreign currencies. TapTapSee is also much faster than competing apps such as VizWiz. TapTapSee is a perfect addition to any iOS device for vissually impaired users.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Google's popular Google Now feature may be coming to Apple devices if a leaked video is to be believed. Google Now is currently an Android exclusive feature but Google has brought flagship Android features to Apple devices in the past. One example is Google's advanced voice search that came to iOS last year. Google Now has predictive cards that provide information to users automatically. The cards gather information about a users search history and provide useful information automatically. Engadget.com was sent the video which was later taken off YouTube. The leaked video is visually similar to other Google promotional videos with lends credence to its authenticity. If the video is legitimate Google Now would be a great addition to Apple's mobile devices.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Google's social networking site Google+ has made news again for its Hangout video chat feature. This time for providing a new window to the world for people with disabilities that make traveling difficult or impossible. A growing number of photographers are providing videos of different landmarks and attractions. These are not just stagnate videos, users can communicate with the photographer and ask them questions in real time. Also, multiple users can participate in a single session. This feature could also be used to allow people with disabilities to virtually attend a sports game, class, concert, or play. Watch the above video to learn more.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

While video chatting has helped deaf users communicate with each other, conventional video chatting runs into problem when an interpreter is involved. Google is attempting to solve this problem with its sign language interpreter app for Google+. Google+ is Google's social networking service. Google+ Hangouts now supports sign language interpreters for deaf users. With the app installed the deaf user sees the interpreter in the top right corner of the window. When the the interpreter speaks for the deaf users, the app recognizes who is speaking and then makes the speaker the focus of the Hangout.

It is encouraging to see Google vigorously improving the accessibility features in Google+.